Heavy Rain Chapter 39

I felt like my insides were being twisted in knots. It felt as if someone had pierced my solar plexus with a red-hot iron. Not knowing what to do, Lyle moved toward the bed instinctively, following Haejin’s pheromones.

The moment his legs reached the bed, his gaze whipped toward the window. On a day with such heavy rain, the window was wide open for some reason.

And Haejin’s pheromones were leading in that direction.

Without a moment to think, Lyle ran at once and leaped over the window frame. Once he recognized them, Haejin’s pheromones felt bizarrely vivid.

The window of this room led to the courtyard inside the main building. As he stepped out without regard for anything else, the rain poured down mercilessly on his body.

Nevertheless, in his urgent state of mind, Lyle kept moving. It was because Haejin’s pheromones, faint and piteously thin, were trailing off in a long line.

If the rain continued like this, the pheromones would soon disappear. The moment that thought occurred to him, Lyle couldn’t even think of something like an umbrella.

He ran without hesitation. Puddles struck by his boots lunged out, splashing muddy water in all directions. As he ran, even trampling over flowers, he eventually saw a spot where the grass was heavily disturbed.

As if someone had collapsed right there.

“Jin!”

The world turned red. It was so even though the gloomy, settled rain should have been coloring the entire yard in shades of gray. From that point on, Lyle wandered the inner garden like a half-madman. Following Haejin’s pheromones that were scattered thick like slender spiderwebs.

In rain like this, pheromones are bound to disperse quickly, so it was a strange thing. Without realizing that odd situation, Lyle continued the pursuit. His hasty footsteps soon reached the vicinity of the forest connected to the back of the main mansion.

The moment he rounded the building and set foot there, Lyle had to widen his eyes. It was because he could see Haejin, dressed in white clothes, walking staggeringly.

By the time he perceived it, he was already running frantically. On a day with heavy rain just like any other, Haejin was walking trudgingly, getting hit by the rain without even an umbrella.

“Jin!”

Seeing the fellow’s back as he moved staggeringly without turning around even at the call, anger kept surging up. Still, once he confirmed Haejin’s whereabouts, the world that had been dyed red finally regained its proper color.

Those steps were by no means fast. Moreover, he was moving forward without any purpose. Even though there was nothing ahead but the dark forest.

Catching up quickly, he grabbed those shoulders first without regard for anything else.

“Jin, stop!”

When he roughly grabbed and turned the body around, only then did that hollow gaze finally face Lyle. Meeting his eyes head-on, Lyle lost his words for an instant.

He had clearly sought Haejin in order to breathe, but Lyle, on the contrary, felt his breath catch.

In the meantime, the soaking wet Haejin looked miserable, just like that day they had happened to meet. His body, which had been changed into light clothing, was turned pale and was trembling faintly.

Lyle’s gaze, which had been staring at that sight in disbelief, turned toward Haejin’s feet. Because he had crossed the lawn barefoot without even indoor slippers, they were a complete mess.

“What on earth are you doing!”

When those protruding ankles came into view, emotions surged up uncontrollably now. This anger he had recognized earlier easily encroached upon his inside. Lyle barely managed to take a deep breath and tried to calm down consciously.

However, because Haejin’s body touching his palm was so emaciated, and because that body temperature was so cold, he simply could not calm down. It was a moment where he was so agitated that he couldn’t even marshal his angry pheromones.

“It wasn’t, it wasn’t me who did that…”

The breath that fluttered against his skin was extremely painful.

Haejin’s pheromones, though faint but persistently revealing their presence, were now felt more strongly than the falling rain. What they contained was an infinitely sorrowful emotion. However, even that emotion often failed to assert itself to the end and dispersed fleetingly.

Watching Haejin like that blankly, Lyle realized that his windpipe was indeed choked up. The words he wanted to ask, why on earth he was doing this, were sucked back in. It was because, thinking about it, he remembered what the last thing was that Haejin, who had been asleep until now, had experienced.

How could I be so stupid.

“I know.”

“… .”

Like a sigh, Lyle spoke to Haejin in a dismal tone. He wanted to let him know that he hadn’t come to catch him like this because of that kind of misunderstanding.

It was then. His gaze, which had been scanning Haejin’s whole body as if searching it unconsciously, turned toward one of the boy’s arms. Whether he had just yanked the IV out, blood was seeping out and flowing little by little.

The drop of blood that flicked out dyed his vision red again, which had barely returned after finding Haejin. It was as if that one drop had completely spread into the heavy rain that was falling.

“Go inside first.”

It is urgent. It seemed he would only be satisfied once he sent Haejin, who was under this heavy rain, beneath a roof.

The white clothes he wore were completely soaked by the rain, showing his body without filter. It was still a thin and small body. It was a body whose texture touching his hand he could vividly recall because he had seen it for a long time.

Lyle, who had been staring at that contour with trembling eyes, reflexively tried to take off his overcoat to give it to him, but then hesitated. This was because he, too, was a total mess and soaked through.

Inevitably, he walked toward the mansion while holding Haejin’s uninjured forearm. The heavy rain quickly seeped into Lyle’s very core. It was the first time in his life getting hit by rain like this. Nevertheless, Lyle thought for some reason that this sensation of being soaked down to his toes was familiar.

However, a very weak resisting force was felt. He recalled again that Haejin had been walking endlessly as if trying to go outside the mansion. It was a good thing the direction was wrong; at this distance, he might have certainly escaped the mansion.

Trying hard to ignore that force, Lyle continued to walk forward. His stiffened neck could not turn back. He could not imagine what kind of expression might be surfacing on the fellow’s face.

Haejin, who had tried to step back a few times, seemed to have legs that wouldn’t listen, as he stumbled. Lyle, who had been trying to ignore everything, reflexively looked back.

Lyle, who had given a gaze to those white ankles in his subconscious, could not hold out any longer.

“Ah.”

He placed his hands behind Haejin’s knees and lifted him up just like that. The swaying body floated up without being able to offer any resistance. Because the weight was lighter than even the pouring rain, Lyle had to clench his teeth until his jawbone stood out.

Haejin, who had been resisting reflexively, let go of his strength at that moment. After all, his body had already reached its limit.

Only after his legs left the ground did Haejin’s mind return a little. As soon as he opened his eyes, an IV had been stuck in his hand, so he had fallen into fear first and fled without realizing it.

However, he couldn’t remember the middle part of how he had come here. After his memory vanished for a moment, he looked ahead and saw the forest. Without even knowing where this was, Haejin had kept walking forward.

There must be a lake in the forest. That must be why he was walking here.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the mansion again. Haejin felt as though he had certainly walked for a long time, but he couldn’t shake the thought that returning happened in such an instant.

“Call the doctor!”

Upon returning to the mansion, the secretary looked at them with startled eyes. Then he went to find someone in a flurry. Haejin tried hard not to focus on the word ‘doctor’ that reached his ears.

Lyle entered the room he had left without hesitation. Once he lowered Haejin onto the bed, he gripped those gaunt shoulders firmly to make the fellow look at him.

For some reason, the eyes he met were burning brightly. It did not suit this kind of dark weather.

“Jin. What on earth were you thinking, going out in this state.”

He didn’t understand why Lyle was angry. Haejin had opened his eyes after a very long sleep and was miserable. And there just happened to be a window in the direction he had looked unconsciously.

He thought of the day he was dragged to this mansion. How long has it been since I fell asleep? Have several days already passed?

“Jin.”